The airstrikes and other actions President Obama is taking against Islamic State deserve bipartisan support. They are beginning to degrade the terrorist group, also known as ISIS, but will not destroy it, for one reason above all: The administration still has no effective policy to remove Bashar Assad from power and end the conflict in Syria.

Administration officials have called their approach “ISIS first.” As for Mr. Assad, in the words of Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the administration will “defer...

RELATED VIDEO

Opinion: What If ISIS Slaughters Syria’s Kurds?

Global View Columnist Bret Stephens on the Islamic State’s advance to the Turkish border, and the political implications for President Obama. Photo credit: Associated Press.